I came across an old video of this TV movie and watched it for the first time in about fifteen years. It is hopelessly trapped in 80s TV soap land with big hair and bright costumes and a 'steel band' soundtrack - its a bit like Christie meets Fantasy Island! Where does Helen Hayes' Miss Marple come from? Certainly not from Saint Marymead, England! However, the story stays remarkably faithful to the book (apart from the updating), Hayes' Marple (apart from the accent) is actually very engaging and there are some good supporting performances (I particularly liked the Rafiel ensemble and poor,lost Molly Kendall). There is no denying the superior quality of the (slightly) later BBC version with Joan Hickson but having watched that too recently, I was surprised to find that it does not beat this earlier version as conclusively as I would have thought.
This is an intriguing oddity and worth a look if you come across it.
This is an intriguing oddity and worth a look if you come across it.